Though Nintendo still considered the units we were using to be prototypes, we reckon they gave a pretty good sense of the unit's heft. The controllers we had in our hands at the Tokyo Game Show were wired and weighed almost nothing; however, the wireless prototypes have a decent heft to them now. They use AA batteries, which will further add to the weight. At the moment, the main controller feels about as heavy as a Nintendo DS. The nunchaku weighs about as much as a cell phone. Holding both units in either hand feels fine, and the buttons are easy to reach.

We expect it will take time for our fingers to get used to the controller's unique landscape and feel totally comfortable sliding around hitting buttons, but so far the controller feels good. The only thing we noticed was that you may find yourself gripping the main controller a little too tightly at first while playing. We reckon this will be an unconscious thing in much the same way most people playing a racing game will lean into turns without thinking or grip their controllers in a vicelike grip when walking around the sky stage in a Mario game. We have to hand it to Nintendo: Despite the Wii controller's unorthodox appearance, the thing is dead easy to pick up and play.

--Ricardo Torres, Senior Previews Editor

Read on to see the rest of our hands-on experiences.

The Controller

Even though Nintendo bowed out of the hardware arms race, it's making up for the horsepower shortfall with ingenuity. At the 2005 Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata unveiled the radically new controller design for the upcoming Wii console. The new wireless controller looks quite simple in an age when most controllers, including those found for the Nintendo GameCube, have multiple analog sticks, a D pad, and eight buttons or more.

Satoru Iwata introducing the new controller at TGS 2005.

Watch It »

At the 2006 Game Developers Conference, Satoru Iwata explained why Nintendo chose to design the new controller the way it did. The controller had to meet four major requirements for Nintendo: It had to have wireless connectivity, approachability, and sophistication, and it had to be revolutionary. By approachability and sophistication, Iwata meant that the controller had to be easy for nongamers to use, yet provide enough complexity for veteran gamers.

The new controller and console are an "investment in actual market disruption," according to Iwata. The company has demonstrated its ability to create new markets and change old ones with its handheld console, the Nintendo DS. Nintendo brought forth nontraditional games like Nintendogs and Brain Training. Combined, both games have been immensely popular, selling in excess of 10 million units.

To nongamers, modern game controllers seem overly complex and pose quite a hurdle to playing a game. Nintendo's motion-sensing controller should make movement in games more natural--waving your arms around is about as intuitive as it gets. Nintendo believes that the simplicity of the interface will be the key to bringing in the mainstream crowd that didn't grow up cradling an SNES or PlayStation gamepad.

The simple mechanics will appeal to a broader audience.

The top half of the Wii controller features a directional pad and a single, oversized A button. If you hold the controller like a remote, your thumb will have immediate access to the D pad and the A button. The underside of the controller has a B button that functions like a trigger button. The controller features select, home, and start buttons lined up horizontally halfway down the controller, and the bottom half of the controller has two buttons stacked vertically. We've seen some controllers that have the buttons labeled as A and B, but other controllers have them labeled as 1 and 2. In any case, if you hold the controller sideways, you'll have two horizontal buttons for classic Nintendo gaming.

The bottom of the controller has an attachment port for peripherals, should a game require more buttons or a specialized controller. The Wii controller will have an analog-stick attachment that plugs into the controller. We can expect to see a variety of extension devices, but the number will have to remain low, or they will have to be packaged with games, because add-ons typically have low user-acceptance rates.

Finally! A remote control for left-handers.

A variety of potential game-usage scenarios were shown at TGS. One involves a fishing game, but instead of pushing a button or moving an analog stick, with the new Wii controller you could cast a line by flicking your wrist. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will have the first implementation of real-world Wii fishing, complete with casting and reeling. Basic games, such as air hockey, can get a boost from the new controller design as well. The built-in sensor can detect depth as well as lateral movement, which lets you push the puck from side to side and into and away from the screen in one natural movement.

At E3 2006, Nintendo revealed that the controller will have built-in speaker and vibration effects to make games even more immersive. If you use the controller to fire an arrow in Zelda, the controller will make a drawing sound as you pull back on the bow to launch a shot, and the controller will shake on impact if you thrust your controller forward to bash an enemy with your shield.

The Wii version of the classic controller.

The connection port on the bottom of the controller could act as the point of contact for numerous types of devices that would provide for extra functionality. Fans have flooded the Internet with homemade attachments, like gun-shaped controller sleeves and other imaginary designs, that could work with the Wii controller. The potential certainly exists for a whole host of attachments or completely new controllers designed specifically for game genres, like a six-button peripheral for fighting games. Nintendo will offer a "classic" gamepad controller for the Wii for use with older Virtual Console games that require a more traditional gamepad controller.